Improvement in rotary steam-engines



A. PHILP. improvement in Rotary. Steam-Engines.

N0. 32,317.. Patented Oct. 15,1872.

y' Jig-2J T11 fUNrrED STATES PATENT CFFICE..

ANDREW PHILP, OF NEW YORK, Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN ROTARY STEAMENGiNES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 132,317, dated Octoberl5, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW PHILP, of the city-7 county, and State of NewYork, have inthe en gine and arrangement of ports and steamways, ashereinafter described and claimed.

' Figure l is a side elevation of my improved engine; Fig. 2 is avertical section on the line x of Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is avertical section onthe line y y of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line z z ofFig. 3; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line w w of Fig. l; andFig. 6 is a section of Fig. 2 on the line et a of Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts.

A A represent the cylinder, which has two long circular recesses, B, inthe inner periphery at opposite sides of the axis with inclinedabutments O, said recesses being as wide as the length of the cylinder,and as deep as it is designed that the piston-plates that the steam actsupon shall project from the disk D, which fits in the cylinder as closeas it can and revolve freely, and carries the said pistonplates E inradial slots F, the said plates being jfitted therein so asto slide outand in and yet not allow steam to escape by passing around them in theslots. The said disk is provided with steam-way grooves Gr on one sideand H on the other in the corners between the plates E, by which livesteam is admitted to the recesses B, behind the plates E, for propellingthe disk. The steam is admitted to these steam-ways by the ports I onone side and K on the other, from the annular steam-chests L inthe'disks M, attached to the plates N, which inclose the cylinder at theends, and to which said chests the steam is admitted from the branches Oof the steam-pipe P (to either) according to which way the engine isdesired to run, by the cock Q, which can be shifted to admit it toeither, as required. Steam is also admitted from these steam-chambersthrough the small ports R on one side and S on the .other to the radialslots F behind the plates E,

for throwing them out against the walls of re- Y cesses B. The ports Iand R are shown in full lines, and the ports K and S in dotted lines inFig. 2, the former indicating those for the front side of the engine, asseen in Fig. 4, and the latter for those of the rear side. It will beseen that the arrangement of these ports, relatively to the recesses B,is reversed for the different sides of the engine, the object being torun the engine in opposite directions thereby. There is an exhaust-portat each end of the recesses B, with a cock for opening and closing them,as required. Those for exhausting, when the engine runs to the right,are marked T, and those for exhausting when ruiming the other Way aremarked U. All discharge into the annular space Y, which exhausts throughthe pipe V. The steam admitted to the radial notches F for forcing theplates E out into recesses B for taking steam therein, exhaust throughthe small ports K to the rear side ofY Fig. 4 and to the annular spaceV, as shown in Fig. 5. These ports X are arranged equidistant betweenthe ends of recesses B, so that they exhaust the said notches, Whetherthe engine runs one way or the other. The inner ends of the plates Ehave little grooves a to admit the steam, although thesaidends rest onthe bottom of the notches. The ports R and S are arranged in the circledescribed by these notched ends of the plates, and the inner ends of theslots and the ports I and K are arranged in the circles described by thesteam-ways G and H, so that the steam will always enter the notches andrecesses when they come to the ports, which are always open and will becut ofi when they pass beyond said ports. The ports R and S are soarranged, relatively to. the abutments C, that steam will be admittedbehind the plates to throw them out just as the rearmost corners of theouter ends begin to descend the inclines C and the ports I K; andsteam-ways G H are so arranged, relatively to said recesses, that steamis admitted behind the plates as soon as the said rear corners havearrived at the bottoms of said inclines; and the steam-ways will be madeany length short of the exhausts, according to the extent it may bedesired to Work the steam expansively. The exhausts T Will be opened andU closed when the engine is required to run to the right, and U Will beopened and T closed when it is required to run the other way.

For shifting the cocks of these valves simultaneously, I have, in thisexample, represented the spindle of each with a pinion, y, geared with alarge toothed wheel, Z, mounted in the axis of the engine, and arrangedto shift for- Ward and back far enough to turn the cocks a quarter of arevolution, and to be arrested at the right point in each direction by astopstud, Z1, passing through a curved slot7 Z2, in said wheel, saidslot being the exact length the wheel is required to turn; but I mayhave any other suitable contrivance for this purpose; for instancethetwo cocks on each side of the vertical plane of the axis may beconnected by cranks and a vertical bar, and these two vertical bars mayeach be connected to a horizontal bar mounted in the axis ofthe engineto oscillate, and have a handle for shifting it, so that by actuatingthe said horizontal bar the cocks will be shifted in the same Inanner asby the turning of the Wheel Z. Although the steam is exhausted frombehind the inner ends of the plates before it is from the recesses B,the said plates will remain out against the walls of B, steam-tight bythe action of the centrifugal force, and the friction of said plates onthe walls of the notches F, caused by the pressure of the steam in Bbehind theln, but as soon as the .steam is exhausted from B thisfriction will cease, and it Will only be the centrifugal force that willhave to be overcome in the forcing of the said plates back, which willbe very light, and, con; seqently, the wear of the parts will be slight.The arrangement of the duplicate recesses and ports, so that the poweris divided equally upon two opposite sides of the disk, -avoids thelateral pressure and the tendency to run and wear out of line common tothose engines in. which the power is wholly applied on one side isavoided and the friction is considerably lessened. v'Ihe part A' of thecylinder is a ring with a groove, V, in its inner wall and fitted onto Asteam tight; but it is made as much wider than A as required to overlapthe edges of the plates N. Suitable packing will be employed between thesides of the disk D and plates N 5' also at the bearings of the shaft ofsaid disk.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

A rotary engine provided with steam-Ways AGr H and ports I K arrangedtherein, as described.

ANDREW PHILP.

YVitnesses:

T. B. MosHER, W. A. GRAHAM.

